In Philadelphia, the 1.5-cent-per-ounce Sweetened Beverage Tax on sugary drinks took effect January 2017. The tax aims to reduce sugary drink consumption and raise funds for health and education programs, such as expanding pre-kindergarten programs and improving parks. The tax also offered a tax credit for companies that sell healthy beverages. Sugary drinks—soda, sports and energy drinks, sugary fruit juices, and flavored milk—contribute to the obesity and related health disparities facing U.S. Latino kids, according to a Salud America! Research Review. The beverage industry challenged the tax, calling it unconstitutional. In July 2018, the tax was upheld. But did it work as intended?
Update on Soda Tax: It’s Working!
The National Bureau of Economic Research has ...
Bicycling shops went extinct in Hartford, Conn. (43% Latino), a few years ago. That’s why, in 2015, the Center for Latino Progress teamed with Hartford Public Schools and Capital Workforce Partners to open BiCi Co.—short for Bicicleta y Comunidad—a community bike shop cooperative run by students. The shop soon became more than a place to get a bike. It transformed into a hub for community connection, civic engagement, and better health, according to Mobility Lab.
How Did They Stimulate Community Connection?
Many people don’t feel an emotional connection to or a sense of membership in their community. Those people are less inclined to take action to improve their own health, according to a 2015 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation survey. Community connection can spur ...
Under the revised House Farm Bill, 1 in 11 households who receive SNAP benefits would no longer be eligible for the program. SNAP not only lifts millions of people out of poverty, it also helps them stay out and improves the economy. And there are real stories behind these facts. The State of Obesity's "SNAP Stories" website showcases people and families who benefit from SNAP.
Who Benefits from SNAP? The State of Obesity report features SNAP Stories of people and families who benefit from SNAP. SNAP Stories is a collection of stories about the benefits SNAP provides for individuals and families all across America. Stories were produced by StoryCorps and Upworthy with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. SNAP recipients are the subject of many stigmas and ...
Unhealthy food contributes to disease, especially in Latino families who lack access to healthy foods and nutrition education. Healthy food, on the other hand, is medicine. That's the belief of the Culinary Health Education for Families (CHEF) program in San Antonio (63% Latino). CHEF teaches children and families basic nutrition and practical cooking skills. The long-term goal is to motivate individuals and communities to adopt and sustain healthier eating and wellness habits. “[We want to] make sure that every family, regardless of income level, or education level, can put a healthy, nutritious, familiar meal on the table that’s better for them perhaps than what was there before," said Suzanne Mead Feldmann of the Goldsbury Foundation, a group behind CHEF. CHEF now ...
Health leaders teamed up with law and policy experts to create the Policy Learning Labs, a technical assistance initiative focused on upstream strategies to improve health. Technical assistance is a type of help that can build skills and provide tools. It can include information sharing, instruction, training, consulting services, and the development of manuals, reports, resource directories, and guidebooks. With the Policy Learning Labs, you or your community group can see how to create and use strategies that produce large-scale, sustainable population health improvements.
Moving Health Care Upstream
Beyond hospital walls, health professionals should address the root causes of disease in communities. That’s what Moving Health Care Upstream (MHCU) does. MHCU, launched ...
Latino voter turnout held steady over the last two presidential elections, but declined sharply over the last two congressional elections, according to Census data. A new campaign aims to reverse the decline as the next congressional election nears on Nov. 6, 2018 The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and March for Science have teamed up to enable voter registration for its projected 4,000 attendees at the site of its 2018 National Diversity in STEM Conference. The conference is set for Oct. 11-13, 2018, in San Antonio. "We’re proud to partner with SACNAS and to offer voter registration and engagement at the 2018 SACNAS event, making it easy for all participants to take civic action," said Dr. Caroline Weinberg, ...
No money. No quality childcare. No social or legal support. These big stressors plague many parents, and can spur domestic violence and child maltreatment, hampering a child’s early and future development. Fortunately, Project DULCE is testing a unique solution. DULCE adds a “family specialist” to a child’s pediatric healthcare team. The Family Specialist builds relationships of trust and respect with enrolled families and connects families to social services if they want ─ like food stamps, housing vouchers, and legal services ─ to reduce economic stress and prevent maltreatment. Public health advocates often talk about health and quality of life in an “upstream-downstream” fashion. They want to highlight the importance of prevention and the influence of ...
Latinos often mistrust of doctors and scientists. In turn, they don't seek preventive healthcare or join helpful clinical trials. In fact, even though Latinos make up 17.8% of the national population and are the largest ethnic minority, Latinos comprised of less than 7.6% of clinical trial participants. The Global Institute for Hispanic Health aims to change all that.
Global Institute for Hispanic Health
The Texas A&M University System and Driscoll Children’s Hospital launched the Global Institute for Hispanic Health in 2016. It's based at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi. It has other campuses in Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen, Laredo, and Victoria. The Global Institute brings researchers, clinicians, and communities together to improve Latinos' ...
We already know that where we live plays a significant role in our health. Latinos and others living in rural areas struggle to access healthcare. They are more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, and unintentional injuries than their urban counterparts. A grassroots effort aims to change that. ¡Vivir Mi Vida!, a pilot program at the University of Southern California (USC), is improving the health of rural, middle-age Latinos.
¡Vivir Mi Vida!
¡Vivir Mi Vida! is a 16-week lifestyle intervention translated as “Live My Life!” It aims to optimize health outcomes in Latino patients. Researchers worked with community partners to develop ¡Vivir Mi Vida! five years ago at USC’s Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and ...
